New Delhi
21 September 2006
Visiting Sri Lankan-Tamil lawmakers on Thursday raised their
concerns about humanitarian condition of the Tamils and extra-judicial killings
committed by armed groups in collusion with the security forces in their talks with
National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and CPI leaders AB Bardhan and D Raja.
Mr Sampanthan Rajavarthanam of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) led the
delegation that comprised lawmakers who are seen as sympathetic to the LTTE. It
comprised Mr Mavai Somasundaram Senathiraja (also of TULF), Mr Selvam
Adaikalanathan of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, Mr Suresh Kandaiah
Premachandran of the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front and Mr
Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam of the All-Ceylon Tamil Congress. The four political parties
make up the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (or Tamil National Alliance). Their alliance has 22
MPs in the Sri Lankan Parliament.
"We had an hour-long meeting with Mr Narayanan. It was cordial. We conveyed our
concerns about the humanitarian condition and extra-judicial killings and requested the
Government of India to look into these matters and do the needful," Mr Suresh Kandaiah
Premachandran of EPRLF told this newspaper after the meeting. He said the delegation
would call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.
A CPI press release said the party expressed concern over the sufferings of Tamils in
Sri Lanka and urged that both parties honour the ceasefire agreement and resume the
peace talks. "The MPs from Sri Lanka explained the ground situation in Sri Lanka and
sufferings of civilian people particularly in the current phase of war. They also appealed
that international community should send a strong message to Sri Lankan government to
stop killings and to come forward for a solution," the release read.
The talks in Delhi come at a time when the government of Sri Lanka has said it plans to
set up a five-member international group of eminent persons to observe the judicial
process of investigation into human rights violations. Nomination of an Indian on the
panel was not ruled out, Sri Lankan diplomatic sources told this newspaper.
A team from the Sri Lankan Attorney General's office was in London and travelling to
Geneva for consultations on the modalities of setting up the panel and its nominees. The
consultations would be held with the secretary general of Amnesty International and
United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) officials.
The sources indicated the group would be set up quite soon. Colombo would draw people
of eminence and experience for an effective interface with Sri Lankan authorities and for
establishing maximum transparency at home and abroad. They hoped this panel would
dispel doubts about Sri Lanka's commitment to international human rights norms as well
as its open and accountable policy on human rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment